As It Should Be
by loony-as-lovegood
Summary: The things loved ones are forced to deal with to be with each other and to be happy. The final straw happens on their one night of solitude. Hermione resolves to take matters in her own hands now. She is sick of only fighting.
1. To Make Things Better

Chapter One:

She walked behind him into the abandoned apartment in the outskirts of France. They were silent as they made their way to the bedroom. _One night_, she thought. _Just one, tranquil night was all they had._ He was pulling her along, holding her hand. They opened the bedroom door and walked to the bed. They laid down on the bed, holding one another, looking into the others eyes. It was their one night, they only get one, and that fact saddened them, but they were determined not to waste it.

"I want this war to be over," she whimpered.

"Shhh… it will be soon enough, don't worry," he said while rubbing a thumb across her cheek to wipe away a tear.

"It isn't fair that we only get one night. It isn't fair at all. We fight and fight and for what??!! One night!!" She was crying horribly now.

"Shhh… then let's enjoy it. There is nothing we can do except keep fighting. It's our only hope of ever being together." He hugged her tightly then kissed the top of the head. He then ran a hand down her hair, down her back and let it rest on her hip. He used her hip as leverage and pulled her as close to him as she could get. He took his other hand and lifted her chin so she was looking at him. She stopped crying. "We will be just fine, I promise you that." He kissed her softly on the nose then nibbled her bottom lip, waiting for her to respond. When she didn't he pulled back and looked at her. She just looked at him. Her brown eyes met his grey ones and silently she asked her question.

"Yes, I promise. Trust me."

She nodded and smiled slightly. She ran her hands through his long hair and let them rest on his neck. She pulled his face back down to hers and kissed him lightly, as if giving him a chance to back away. He didn't. He kissed her intensely and pulled her on top of him. His hands traveled all over her. Her back, her sides, her bum, her hips, everywhere. They needed this. After awhile he sat up and held her on his lap. He looked up at her and smiled. She loved his smile. She was sure she was the only person to ever see his smile. And it had been so long since she had seen it. Nearly five years ago. It seemed like a life time ago. Before they both got caught up in this ridicules war. She smiled back, kissing him again, that's when he started unbuttoning her shirt and she, his.

Later that night she woke up and gently unwrapped herself from his hold around her stomach. She stood at the edge of the bed and watched him sleep. He looked so much at peace. She summoned her clothes and got dressed while watching the street below through the window. She looked back at the figure in the bed. She was now sprawled out on his stomach since she was not occupying the space. The sheets had slid off his pale back and revealed bright scars in the moonlight that poured in through the window. _And I thought I had it bad_, she thought as she stared at the scars.

"I'll make things better for you I swear," she said as she opened the bedroom door. A single tear slid down her cheek and she wiped it away fiercely, a determined expression settled itself on her face in its place.

"I love you, I will come back." And she left.


	2. Norah's Story

Chapter 2:

Three Years Later:

She stood in the shadows, watching the couple kiss deeply in front of the flat's door. She held her breath as she felt a piercing pain in her heart. Poor Hermione. I mustn't think about it. Finally the couple broke apart and the girl closed the door and the man left. As she followed him around corners keeping out of sight, she thought about how sorry she was for the girl as she would be forgotten in the morning. She would call the number he had given to her, and would never get an answer. And he would never show up anywhere she might be. She knew this because that's how he had been operating for the past four months she had been following him. After three years of looking she was pretty sure she found him. That's why she was following him for so long. She wanted to make absolute certain it was him. She was stupid for accepting this mission, she knew that much but she couldn't help it, she had to. She could tell he really cared about Hermione and that it still hurt him that she left him, because he never stayed at any other woman's house, he always just kissed and left. She followed him another block then around a building before she halted. He had stopped and was looking around like he had sensed her. She held her breath for what seemed like hours. He finally moved on and started walking again. After another hour, he at last came to a small house. She watched from across the street as he unlocked the door and with one last look around the street, closed the door. She waited for a minute until she saw a light come on in the upstairs hallway before she ran across the street and snuck to the back yard. She climbed a shed and sat there watching the bedroom window. He eventually showed up in the room in just pajama pants and no shirt, reading a book, pacing. She wished that she could calm him down, and figure out what was agitating him so much. She hated it when people were not happy.

After watching him for another few minutes, she heard a deafening crack from the front of the house and a loud knock on the door. Only when she saw the man in the window grab a robe and head downstairs did she leave her post. She crept to the front of the house and watched the door be opened to the visitor. She couldn't make out any features in the dark as he had his hood up. She heard angry voices upon the closing, well slamming, of the door. She then went to the back door and pick locked her way into the kitchen. She made her way toward the hallway memorizing everything around her. She reached the archway that led to the living room, where the two men were currently fighting. Both men had pieces of wood out like swords and the visitor had finally pulled his hood down. He had long blond hair pulled back in a strict ponytail and he was very pale. He looked like a spitting image of the other man.

"If I've told you once I've told you a thousand times, I have no clue as to what Herm − Granger's whereabouts are. If I knew I would have told you already. Now I would appreciate it if you left my house now. You are not welcome." She snickered to herself, so they were looking for Hermione now were they? She giggled. Some luck they will have.

"My my, we are being rude. None the less you were supposed to be tailing her. The Dark Lord is getting uneasy with her long absence. If I find out you had anything to do with her disappearance I will reveal your, disgusting, secret to the Dark lord. Then we will see what becomes of you. Do I make myself perfectly clear?"

"Yes, father." He said mockingly. The older man just glared at him then turned around to leave. He opened the door before turning around with a smile on his face. "Do remember that you are most unfortunately my son, so I don't mind too much with your attitude towards everyone, yet be warned, the Dark Lord will not tolerate it much longer. I bid you a good evening" And with that he walked out the door, shutting it quietly. There was another loud crack as he apparated.

She watched has he sighed and sat down on the chair and threw his stick onto the table. She waited a second, and then stepped out of her hiding spot. "Hello Draco." He jumped up and turned to pick up his stick on the coffee table when he noticed it was gone. He spun around watching her carefully. "Give me my wand."

"What? This thing? Is that what you call these things? Interesting."

"Who the bloody hell are you?" He looked scared for a moment.

"The name's Norah, nice to meet you," she said holding out her hand. When he didn't shake it, she huffed. "Now don't be rude. There is no need for it." She smiled at him. He didn't return the favor. Not that she was surprised or anything. "Well, aren't you going to invite me to sit down or get me a drink or something?" she continued to smile. She thought he looked cute when he was confused and suspicious. He just stared at her. She huffed again and sat herself down on his couch and watched him.

"That still doesn't explain how you know me. Or who you are for that matter." He stayed standing looking down at her.

"That's my business."

"Whose side are you on exactly?"

"Yours, although I'm not real sure which one that is right now, but I'm sure it's the right one." She smiled again. His face paled. She knew what he was thinking about. She assumed he changed when Hermione left but apparently he didn't change sides all the way he just questioned what his involvement was for on the other side. She sat there quietly, waiting.

"I wish I knew," Draco muttered.

"I know it's hard but you have to be the better person."

"I'm still confused as to who you are and what the hell you are doing here!"

"Alright, alright, hold your horses." She pretended to be thinking for a minute about what to say. She knew exactly what she wanted to say, but wasn't sure whether she should be going on with this plan. It seemed too precarious. So she decided to stall until she made up her mind. "I might be willing to tell you if I had a drink and you sat down and were nice to me." She smiled at the look he was giving her. It was a mix of anger and curiosity. After a few minutes of her twiddling her thumbs he got up and left the room to get her a drink from the fridge. He came back with a canned soda. He handed it to her.

"Happy now?"

"Yup. Ok so, where to begin. Ah yes." And she kind of bounced up a little and sat on her knees instead. "So while I was in Newport I walked into this bar and it was very crowded. There was only one booth that wasn't filled with people, and that one had this funny looking lady in it. She was wearing this funny dress outfit, and man, was she drunk. She was just raving you know, absolutely crazy I tell you. I don't think she really noticed me there. Any who, she goes on about this war she says is happening, but last time I checked there wasn't a war going on, and when asked she went on to talk about witches and wizards and magic. It was a very funny story I thought. She goes on for what seemed like hours, talking about this school and this snake guy. She laughed a lot when she mentioned some people. Oh what were there names? Oh right, Harry Porter, Randall Weasel, and Jenna Weasel."

"You mean Harry Potter, Ron and Ginny Weasley."

"Oh. Oops. You know them?"

"Yes. I went to school with them. They were Hermione's best friends." He looked down at his feet for a minute. "Go on."

"Ok. So she said this snake guy, at least that's how I thought he sounded like. Lord something or another, and she was talking about all these awful things him and his disciples were doing to people. Well this went on for a couple of hours and it was getting really late so I offered her a place at my house for the night. See my parents were out and we wouldn't get in trouble. And she said ok. Well we almost didn't make it she was so drunk, but eventually we got to my house and I let her sleep in my guest room. She was really pretty. Looked to be like twenty – five."

"She's twenty – five now. When did you see her? How old are you exactly? You don't look like your old enough to be in a bar."

"I'm twenty – three for your information. I saw her three years ago. Do you want to hear the rest?" He nodded. "Then let me continue. As I was saying. The next morning she woke up and came storming into my room, pointing a wand at me. Asked me who I was and where was she, and how she got there and a bunch of other questions. She was abnormally strange, I'll tell you. Very weird. Well so I explained what happened the night before, and she was really scared. She called me a muggle, although I have no idea what that means, but she said I should have never heard what I did. She mentioned something about erasing my memory, and I didn't like that one bit so I yelled at her and told her I would call the police. She laughed and just looked at me, then sat on my bed thinking. After awhile she looked happier, and that kind of worried me. At first she just muttered to herself then she said I could help her. I was eager because a. I didn't want to lose my memory, and b. she looked like she needed help, and c. I always wanted to be a soldier in a war, thought I could be some sort of hero or something. Well so she explained more about the lord snake man and said he needed to be killed. Said he wasn't mortal though. Had to find weird objects and destroy them. And she said only one person could do it. She said your name. Draco Malfoy, Draco Malfoy, Draco Malfoy. She said I had to find you and that I had to tell you all about these weird objects. She wrote down on paper information about them, for you to use a guide. I asked her why she couldn't do it and all she said was that she wasn't strong enough, was tired of fighting and didn't want to deal with the pain of seeing you hurt. After that, she gave me the paper and left. The only reason I knew her name was because of the paper she wrote you."

"That's all? She just gave you information and let you at it?" He couldn't believe that she would just do that to a younger girl, let alone a muggle. She must really be bad off, he thought. He had to stop thinking about her. It was going to tear him apart if he thought about her hurt anymore.

"Yup. So I've been looking for you for the past three years. You are really hard to find. Although I found you four months ago I had to follow you to make sure you were really who I was looking for." She grinned as if she should have been rewarded for finding him. He was shocked it took her so long. He was good at hiding but didn't think that he was that good. Although she is a muggle.

"I thought I felt someone follow me."

"I never followed you home though. Just around town. But if you disappeared I couldn't follow you wherever you went then either. You know, when you go, poof." She giggled. She looked so young, Draco felt bad for her. She reminded of someone though. Couldn't think of whom though.

"So I'm supposed to just accept this mission and go find these 'objects'?"

"Yes."

"Great, it's not like I don't have enough on my plate now. "

"But this is about bringing down snake guy and ending the war. She said she wanted to make a better place for you."

He paused. If she wanted to make a better place for him, she wouldn't have left. "Do I have a choice?" This girl was extremely annoying and he assumed she was going to make this very difficult for him either way.

"You always have a choice. I'm not going to force you either way. But just remember, that she loves you and she wouldn't have left you if she didn't think she had to." She smiled that stupid smile of hers again. He huffed and gave in.

"Alright, alright. I'll do this. Now give me that paper." He held out his hand for her to give him the paper. Only she didn't. A confused look spread across her face.

"Wait a minute. I'm helping too. This isn't just your task."

"No, you have done enough. It is my task. Now if you don't mind, I would really appreciate it if you left. And forgot everything."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"I won't give you the paper then. I want to help and I'm going to no matter what you say. I said you had a choice on if you did this task, not if I did. I am helping end of story, do you understand me?"

Looked like he had no choice. He nodded. The look she was giving him scared him anyway. "Alright. We'll start out first thing in the morning. Am going to bed now. Good night."

"Good. So where do I sleep? You can't just expect me to leave."

"Oh, right. Come with me." He led her upstairs to a guest room and got her some effects she might need. He watched her climb into bed and pass out immediately. He walked over to her and pulled his wand out of her back pocket. He took her shoes off and tucked her in. She looked so peaceful sleeping. As he walked to his room he thought about someone else he hoped was sleeping just as peacefully. He fell asleep imagining he was holding her again.


End file.
